His
preference for the classic style in literature was rather too decided;
for we must never forget that Shakespeare himself was chiefly romantic.
He liked poetry which was like his own, and seems to have unconsciously
judged other poets by that standard. He had no patience with idiomatic
writing like that of Carlyle or Jean Paul; and he made incessant warfare
on the subjective method. It is true that subjectivity may be called the
peculiar vice of the nineteenth century, and yet it is a vice like the
self-consciousness of the early Christians, that ought finally to end in
virtue. There are thousands of readers whose minds cannot be reached in
any other way.
Allowances must sometimes be made also for the physical condition of a
writer. Not always; for Carlyle wrote the greatest of dramatic histories
while he was suffering from dyspepsia in the most distressing manner.
However, I think in Matthew Arnold's case something may be conceded to
him. He came to lecture in America for a double purpose--to tell the
truth and to repair his fortunes. It was a sad story. His son had failed
in business; his father, of course, had endorsed his notes, and he found
himself at the threshold of old age as poor as in the beginning. Such a
shock is felt severely enough by tough, hard-fisted men of the world,
but to the tender sensibility of a poet it must have been a crushing
blow.
Pages:
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120